Doves fly in for Tall Ships Celebrations

04 May 2010

Hartlepool will be host port for The Tall Ships Races from 7-10 of August and Indie-rock band Doves have been confirmed as headliners on the Entertainment Stage, sponsored by Real Radio, on Monday 9 August, whilst Seth Lakeman and The Unthanks will be co-headlining on Saturday 7 August in a folk, blues and roots theme day.

The latest bands will be joining the likes of Ocean Colour Scene and Echo and the Bunnymen who were announced earlier this year.

Doves, who are involved in the Manchester music scene, are expected to perform their hits including ‘There Goes The Fear’, ‘Black and White Town’ and ‘Pounding’. Their greatest hits album, ‘The Places Between’, is released in April, celebrating twelve years at the top of the UK music charts.

Seth Lakeman and The Unthanks, two of the most highly regarded folk artists in the UK, will be joined by Australia’s CW Stoneking whose influences include pre-war blues, 1920’s calypso and jazz. Other bands confirmed for the event include Exit Calm, Demon Summer and Dirty Weekend.

On Friday 6 August, the day before the four-day festival officially gets under way, a selection of local bands and artists will be taking to the stage.

Music promoter Andy Kelly, who has been working with the Tall Ships team to secure the bands, said: “It’s amazing to have Doves on board for this event. It’s going be fantastic to see them playing Hartlepool.

“The confirmation of Seth Lakeman and The Unthanks is also brilliant; with their high esteem within the industry we can be sure to have a great show.”

Hartlepool Mayor Stuart Drummond commented: “With these latest announcements, I think we’ve got an excellent programme of music which will have widespread appeal.

“The Entertainment Stage is a key part of the Tall Ships event and we’ll be announcing some more bands soon to complete the programme.”

Between 60 and 100 ships are expected to attend the event held at Hartlepool Marina with 59 already confirmed, 19 of these are class A vessels – the largest square-rigged type vessels. The vessels will have sailed from Kristiansand in Norway in the second and final race.

The full line-up so far is:

Friday 6 August

The Standards
The White Negroes
The Runwells
Dirty Weekend
Arcs and Trauma